The Death Knell

Falcone's rule, seen today, is a dictatorship full of black violence.

No matter what business you run in Gotham, you must pay protection fees to the gangs headed by Falcone, otherwise, you will not survive a day in this city.

Of course, the reason why it is called order is that the protection fee can be renamed as management fee. After all, Gotham is already a gangster city.

But this also brings about a problem, that is, in this city, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. After all, the lower the people in society, the more they will be exploited.

Just like in the sea, big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimps, and shrimps eat sludge.

At that time, more than 90% of the people in Gotham were not even considered sludge. They could only work in the most ordinary jobs and struggle to survive. After paying the protection fee every month, the remaining money could barely survive. Stay alive and continue to make money for the gang next month.

Everyone is in a hurry and numb, living the same life every day, doing everything they ask you to do under the supervision of the gang, no matter what.

If people disobey even a little bit, they will be severely beaten or even more terrible punishments, such as houses being set on fire, being shot with submachine guns on the road, and the whole family being tied to cement bricks and being sunk into the sea. Everyone is shrouded in this black terror.

You can't even have anything that the gangsters want, they'll take everything.

Your husband is handsome, take it away.

Your bike is of good quality, take it away.

The fabric of your sofa is quite soft. Take it away.

Although these things were not done by the Falcone family, and those who did these things were mostly low-level gangsters, their small gangs relied on the big gangs, and the big gangs relied on the bigger ones, until they belonged to the top ten. family.

Elsewhere, if you ask children what they want to do when they grow up, the answers must be diverse. They want to be scientists, priests, or firefighters.

But in Gotham at that time, there could only be one answer - wanting to be the boss.

Because the only way for children to get ahead is to join a gang, follow a good boss, become the kind of person they hated most when they were young, and climb up step by step through various dark behaviors.

At that time, more than half of the Gotham government officials accepted political donations from gangster families, and the remaining half also lived under the threat and intimidation of gangsters. It could be said to be a hopeless city.

It was at that time that retired James Gordon returned to the city and became a criminal police officer. The first case he took on was that Blisswain's parents were shot dead in an alley.

He comforted young Bliss and promised her that he would get to the bottom of everything and seek justice for her parents.

But all the clues pointed to the gang. In the process of solving the case, he encountered many things, which allowed him to see the terrifying torrent in the darkness.

Strictly speaking, Gordon was doing well as a homicide detective at that time.

As a police officer, he does not need to pay protection fees, and gangsters will not take the initiative to trouble them.

After all, from the perspective of the Ten Families, Gotham is their own city, and the police in the city are also maintaining law and order for their own families. How can there be any reason for their own families to pay protection fees?

Although Gordon was born in Gotham, he has seen the outside world. The colorful outside world is not like Gotham's always gray. He cannot accept that his city is like this.

He is ready to bring all the gangs to justice and let Gotham see the light again.

Even though half of the rice bowls he carried were named Falcone, they were always full of good food.

But he did this not for himself, but for more poor people.

So he suffered a lot, was demoted, threatened, framed, and assassinated.

As his investigation deepened, the gang's methods became more intense, and he nearly escaped death countless times. Until the appearance of Batgirl more than ten years ago, and the two fought hard together for three years, he finally won... .....

The ten families collapsed, leaving only one family, the Copot family, which is today's Penguin Girl. The territory she occupies is less than one percent of the previous size.

He personally sent Falcone, the former Emperor of Gotham, to Blackgate Prison.

Although he came out soon, he went to Hong Kong and Gordon never saw him again.

From then on, Gordon spent more of his energy dealing with the endless stream of masked people. Probably only when a person is having a rest and drinking at night, he will think of the thrills of his youth.

Now, the person in the memory appears.

"Gordon, you were a good boy back then, but you are old now."

Falcone spoke with emotion, and looked at Gordon without any hatred in his eyes, just like an ordinary old man looking at his nephew.

He is still so dignified, his suit is neat, and he is gentle and elegant. Everything in this room seemed to have gone back in time, back to the glorious days of the Romans, when Gordon saw him for the first time.

At the beginning of solving the case, he came to Falcone's door to look for clues, and Falcone also received him with great grace. The city's underground emperor and a small policeman had a conversation across this desk.

Just like today.

Gordon would not be confused by him. Maybe he would be thirty years ago, but he is definitely not the person he is today. But he still remembers how his men 'invited' him here before.

The Romans are back and armed to the teeth!

"You're getting older faster than me, Falcone."

Even though Gordon was in a desperate situation, he still didn't flinch, and he immediately retorted.

Falcone just smiled and still stroked his cat unhurriedly in his hand. The cat was drowsy due to the warmth of the fireplace and was so comfortable that it kept yawning in his arms.

"Yes, we are all old, and this world is destined to belong to young people, so I plan to return to this place before I die."

"There's nothing interesting to see in Gotham. You should go back to Hong Kong." Gordon sat opposite him and looked at him calmly.

Falcone's hand paused for a moment, he lowered his head and smelled the roses on his chest, then looked up at Gordon with confusion: "Yeah, there's nothing good to see... I handed you a A glorious city, but you actually let it turn into this?"

"At least people are free." Gordon closed his eyes and leaned on the sofa.

"What is freedom? They don't even dare to go out at night now." Falcone shook his head and laughed, as if he had heard some joke. Seeing Gordon's eyes closed, he added: "You once and Batgirl tricked me, and I don’t blame you, because I know what you want is a better city.”

"I don't blame her either, because someone in the family killed Bliss's parents behind my back. Even though it was infiltrated by the court, that was the retribution I deserved."

"..." Gordon said nothing.

"Remember? I asked you what you want? You told me, what you want is a city where people can live and work in peace and contentment, and children can grow up healthily. So I let it go, I gave it to you, let you To achieve what I couldn’t do, I let you put me in prison, I let you become Gotham’s hope, and then I walked away, but this is the answer you gave me?”

Falcone calmly put the cat on the carpet and watched it curl up in a ball and fall asleep. He picked up the wine bottle from his desk and poured the golden liquid into two glasses. Glowing in the firelight.

"Gotham...it just needs time, it will get better..." Gordon said something that he could hardly believe.

"That's why I'm optimistic about you, Gordon. You always have hope and won't give up." Falcone stood up with a smile, tremblingly handed a glass of wine to Gordon's hand, and gently Clink glasses with him: "Compared with the little cripple from the Cobot family, you are my most ideal successor."